My Re-arranged Tank

[Fella]

I think the tank would look 100 times better if it was filled all the way to the top with water.

 

[Durbkat]

One more reason a tank can go cloudy is by the introduction of a contaminant that the bacteria can use as a nutrient. Unwashed dirty hands, liquids, and chemicals are a few examples of sources of nutrients. Please note that in a filtered and aerated aquarium, the actual bacterial bloom is in itself not harmful to the fish.
http/www.totallyfish.com/tips/cloudywater.html

Durbkat...when you make accusations against a person's fishtank..sometimes it's helpful (and looks less condenscending) if you post a link, or some sort of logical explination, explaining why you posted what you think is the problem.

Thanks for the tip.

 

[withington]

i dont like it its dirty as he.ll change the water

 

[CroNiC]

Hmmm.... well if you think its dirty then i might as well do a water change, but i did one a week ago. I do it every week so it needs a water change tommorow. And it is the camera because it does look a lot cleaner with my eyes
Ill take a pic at night with all the lights off ... would definately look better that way. And ill try to give it a more natural look. Ill go for the advise and change the gravel ... this weekend.
I will howeveer re-arrange the plants and add my new rock by today. And im getting driftwood tommorow or thursday.
Thx for the advise guys ... ill post a pic today, if not today then definately tommorow

Thx again

EDIT:
I will be posting the pic of the rock today in about 15-20 min

 

[SRC]

You may not be able to detect the cloudiness with your eyes just yet...but if left alone you will start to see it. The camera is just able to pick up on it earlier (they have better "eyes" then we do lol).

Unless you take pictures of things other then your fishtank and it leaves the same foggy appearance..it's not the camera .

Here is an example of a camera that is adding "fog" to the picture (condensation got inside the camera and messed up the inside of the lens)
http/img.photobucket.com/albums/v514/Sex...28Image0108.jpg

 

[chishnfips]

Caves look nice in a tank, you can make them out of coconut shells, or bits of slate leaning onto another rock. Caves are good for places to hide for the fish and chill out.

What about a small bit of bog wood or something. You could try rearanging the plants to the back that would give some more swimming room at the front of the tank. And room to put a feature ornament.

 

[CroNiC]

Caves look nice in a tank, you can make them out of coconut shells, or bits of slate leaning onto another rock. Caves are good for places to hide for the fish and chill out.

What about a small bit of bog wood or something. You could try rearanging the plants to the back that would give some more swimming room at the front of the tank. And room to put a feature ornament.

Yup
You read my mind. Im going to do that today. And i bought a piece of rock. Hmmm illl post a pic of the rock now so you get an idea.
I am going to move my plants back and put like 2 in the front. I can see my tank now
Thx ... im going to go take the pic of the rock now.

 

[CroNiC]

K here is the pic of the rock:







For those who cant see the pics here is a direct link:

http/img446.imageshack.us/img446/3301/picofrock1mh.jpg

http/img446.imageshack.us/img446/9306/pi...aquarium1ln.jpg

Tell me if it looks good or not (i can always retrun it)
Now where should it go hmmmm...

And o btw the water isnt really green. Its the camera - promise


Thx

 

[Durbkat]

I never knew a camera could make water look almost solid green. I'd say you need a new camera if it can change the color of your water that much. But if it was the camera wouldn't the rock and the black trim of the tank and the wall be green to?

 

[CroNiC]

What it does is that the camera brightens everything. Like when i am looking through the camera its fine, but as i take the pic BAM ... everything gets realy bright and the tank looks green and everyhting. And the reason y i think it is not CRYTSAL CLEAR is because of the rocks. Since some sunlight does reach my tank im guessing the blue rocks reflect blue andtherfore the tank looks a little darker. Thats why im changing my substrate to a more natural "feel."

 

[WendyinWichita]

Changing the substrate can be pretty simple, if you can remove the fish to another place first that is best, but if you can't it can be done with them in the tank.

What I do is use a good sized net and scoop up the old gravel and dump it. Then I rinse the new gravel and use the same net and get it very close to the bottom of the tank (so you don't trap a curious fish) and empty it. Your tank will cloud a bit even after you have rinsed the gravel but it works pretty good.

The cheapest way to get a decent background is to simply use a black trash bag, they stick pretty good this time of year with static electricity, but a couple bits of tape at the top will keep it in place. I like to leave mine a bit loose in the event that water drips down between the tank and background it dries much better.

Go to the planted aquarium site and take a look at tank photos with real plants and you will get an idea of how to clump your plants together to get a natural look.

I do think the tank would look much better filled up. I saw you are going to do your water change soon, my water levels go down this time of year also, I may change water a bit more often than weekly because of the evaporation.

Good luck!

 

[CroNiC]

Ya after i do my water change im re-arranging the plants. Im probaly going to make the bigger plants on the right toward the heater. So the right will well-planted. Then ill keep like 1-2 medium sized plants toward the filter area. Then ill keep long bushy plants or just long plants along the back, with a black backrground.
Then ill place 1 peice of bogwood between the 2 plants byt he filter (on the left)
And finally ill place 1 rock (the 1 i showed) in the middle. Since the rock is now very tall there will be enough open room in the middle. So basically there will be 4 on the right and the 1 huge plants (in the middle ) will go to the left. Along with 1 other plants. Then in between those ill place a bogwood (if i think there is enough room.) And keep the rock in the middle with 2 small plants around it.
Can u c the set up? If you can, do you think it will look good?

Thx

 

[CroNiC]

Hi every1,

Im going to re-arrange the tank. Hopefully it will look good. Ill post a pic as soon im done. Thx for the advise every1

 

[sakaspuds]

your tank looks good on the whole, i have to admit i'm one for a natural looking tank too, but i have recently done one tank with a plain blue background and pure white silica sand, its very nice looking, and very different to my other tanks, a good trick is to use smaller plants in the front of the tank and taller ones at the very back, rocky/woody things roughly in the center, or towards the rear, but as everyone else says its a matter of personal taste

 

[sakaspuds]

just out of interest what kind of filter are you using?, i am concerned about the colour of your water, is it smelly at all?

in my big tank i had 2 fluval 4's, but a while ago i switched to an under gravel filter running off a rena 400, with 2 up pipes, and a single fluval 4 internal filter, weekly water changes are a must, but its better to a few smaller water changes a week than one big one, but thats not possible when you have a few tanks like most of us do, when i just had one tank i would do small daily water changes

i am running under gravel filters + an internal filter in my 18g too, i find it a very good way to keep the water clean, the internal filters are very easy to take out and clean, pluss the under gravel filter passes oxygenated water through the substrate making sure the good bacteria thrive in it